Community Development Program - King Hussein Foundation

The Community Development Institute (CDI) improves livelihoods and resilience through job creation, building institutional and entrepreneurial capacities of individuals and community-based organizations, accessing seed money, and improving community infrastructure.

CDI was built upon the success of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation’s 1989 Quality of Life - a pioneering regional model for integrated development and capacity building at the grassroots level, with support from the World Health Organization. It introduced sustainable improvements in healthcare, education, and economic productivity through training, gender-balanced participatory decision making, and the provision of revolving loan funds managed by the communities themselves.

Over the last decade, the model evolved to further promote entrepreneurship, enhance community mobilization and civil society’s role as effective agents for positive change. CDI introduced a novel incubation methodology where each micro or small enterprise receives tailored training at the business location as well as ongoing coaching and counseling. Civil society organizations, social enterprises, family businesses, women, and youth across Jordan are provided with business literacy, product development, market knowledge, and vocational training. Internship and apprenticeship opportunities are also accessible to improve livelihoods and resilience, particularly to youth and refugees.

Moreover, CDI focuses on building the capacity and good governance of civil society organizations by enhancing their institutional, managerial, and operational capacities. To ensure community needs are integral in the local development plans, CDI facilitates synergies between civil society initiatives and local development authorities as well as the private sector. Local communities and civil society organizations are also mobilized to become catalysts for sustainable development by bringing to the forefront of local community plans consideration to the triple bottom effects that focus on social and environmental concerns just as on economic gains.

Green Jordan

A pioneer program creating awareness and promoting advocacy on renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE), in collaboration with local communities, private and public sectors in northern, central and southern Jordan, has recently concluded.

The developed manual on behavioral change on REEE best practices is being introduced by certified trainers throughout CDI’s Business Development Incubators in Aqaba, Irbid and Tafileh.

Community Activism

Mobilizing civil society and promoting social initiatives in partnership with the public sector was realized in Irbid, Balqa, Aqaba, Ajloun and Amman in 2019.

For the first time 124 community-based organizations’ strategic plans were aligned with the governorates’ developments plans, and 58 social -driven initiatives were granted. Examples of such initiatives include creating job opportunities for women and youth through training and apprenticeships; creating awareness on health issues; and, strengthening services for people with disabilities.

National Poverty Alleviation Programs

CDI led two national programs - Qudorat (2004-2009) and the Poverty Pockets Program (2005-2013), in nine governorates in Jordan.

Local communities and community-based organizations were mobilized to support national efforts in alleviating poverty. By creating job opportunities in market-driven enterprises, building capacities, increasing accessibility to microcredit, and improving infrastructure, the quality of life of marginalized communities was improved.

SUCCESS STORIES

Khadija Al-Damen is a mother of 6 living in Hatem village in Irbid. Khadija joined the CDI’s Women’s Business Development Incubator program in 2009 for managerial training and business coaching. She was motivated to open an accessories shop, the first in her village! Her success led to an expansion to the shop next door which she filled with home appliances. The following year she took an apartment across the street and opened a beauty center. For her outstanding business acumen, in 2013 she won The Citi Micro Entrepreneur Award in Jordan. When asked about what her husband thinks about her business drive, she replied, “He is totally supportive”, and with a smile she added,” now I make more money than he ever imagined!” Filled with ambition, not only did Khadija become the village tycoon, but she also went back to school and continued her education. She got her high school diploma, a bachelor’s degree in counseling, a master’s degree in education management, and this year she began her studies for a Ph.D. in educational administration. In 2020, Khadija ran for the General Election for the House of Representatives in Jordan for her district.
Sabha’s family was barely making ends meet, with an unemployed husband suffering from bone cancer and six children to feed and care for. With a USD $800 grant, Sabha and her husband Mahmoud bought a cotton candy machine to help them sustain their livelihoods. In one month, one of Sabha’s young children happily noted that for the first time, the whole family can afford to eat breakfast each morning. This was also the first year that the children received new items of clothing as presents for Eid al Fitr. Soon after, the family business branched out into selling other homemade sweets.

"We visited Sabha and Mahmoud's house before the business was up and running, and the family had essentially been living in an empty house," CDI Economic Empowerment Specialist recalls. "As the business became more successful, they were finally able to purchase food and necessities: first, cushions for sitting and sleeping, then pots and pans. Little by little, their house started to become home."
Mohammad Ali is 27 years old and had been working as a day-labor electrician for eight years. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic which left him with no income and very few prospects for the future. Frustrated with the instability of his income, he applied for a grant as part of the CDI’s Heart of Amman Initiative to develop his own enterprise selling electrical supplies and services. He opened his workshop in Sahab where he began to quickly gather a consumer base.

Since he began his journey, his shops' value has grown considerably, increasing from USD $5,000 in inventory to nearly USD $25,000 in backlog along with a 40% profit in sales. In less than a year he procured a separate workshop to store the equipment for his electrical services. His entrepreneurial trait has also led him to engage women in his community to create artisanal lampshades that he can sell in his store.